"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Golly gee," Mason snarked right back at him. "Some way to greet the brother you haven't seen in over a year."
Nikoli felt bad for two seconds until he remembered exactly what his brother had interrupted. Cock blocker. That was what Mason was to him at this exact second.
"Sorry. Nice to see you. Now what the fuck are you doing showing up on my doorstep?"
"What's up with your girl? Did I do something to offend her?"
"Fuck." Nik ran a hand through his hair, a bad habit of all the brothers had when they were aggravated or nervous. "No, you didn't do anything, kid."
"Then why did she run out of her like I smelled or something?"
"Did Mama not tell you..."
"Tell me what?"
"Fuck," Nikoli muttered.
"All she said when I talked to her last night was that I was to get my ass here."
"Mama sent you here?"
Mason nodded. "Yeah, why?"
"No, I mean here, specifically, and not with Kade and Angel?"
"Uh, they're in a hotel, man. I can't stay with them."
"You can't stay with me either."
"Why the fuck not?"
"Because..." His gaze drifted to the staircase. "Because you can't."
"Dude, I'm a broke college student trying to earn a living making YouTube videos. Do I look like I have money for a hotel?"
"I'll pay your bill."
"You're not really trying to throw your little brother out in the cold, are you?"
"I'm offering to put you up in a hotel. Lily's got enough to worry about without having you underfoot."
"She doesn't have to worry about me. As long as I have pizza and beer, I'm good."
"Dude, it's not even about that."
"Dude, Mama will beat me if I leave. She said I was to plant myself on your couch and not leave until you do in the morning. Something about unmarried couples shacking up before the wedding or something. She was rambling in Russian so fast it was hard for me to keep up."
Fuck it all to hell. Mason really was a cock blocker.
Lily would never have sex with his brother next door listening.
His mother was a devious woman.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.
"You okay?" Mason grinned wide, coming to the same conclusion as Nikoli.
"Fucker..."
Mason burst out laughing. "Don't blame me. I'm following Mama's explicit instructions."
Nikoli groaned and fell down on the couch, throwing an arm over his eyes. "Shit."
He felt the couch give as Mason sat. "In all seriousness, what didn't Mama tell me about Lily?"
"She has a form of PTSD."
"Like Papa?"
He sighed and sat up. "Yeah, but hers manifested differently. She has a fear of being touched. She's a lot better, but it's not completely gone. Strangers touching her is what sets her off. With her family and friends, it's not so bad."
"But we're strangers to her." Mason nodded thoughtfully. "I get it. I was there when Papa had his attacks. I'll make sure to not touch her until she gets to know me. We all will."
"She's afraid she'll embarrass me when it comes to my family because of her phobia."
"We understand it better than most."
"I know, but it's stressing her out. No one but Kade really understands because he saw it firsthand."
"I'll call Vik, Conner, and Dimitri to make sure..."
"Dimitri knows. I told him back in Boston right before Angel was taken."
"Awesome. You said something about dinner?"
Nikoli laughed. Leave it to his baby brother to remember food. The kid ate more than all of them.
"Go put your stuff in the first door at the top of the stairs and get cleaned up while I collect Lily Bells."
He walked with Mason up the stairs but kept going to the door at the end. He found Lily sitting on the bed, her fingers twisting the bedspread like she used to do back when they first met. She was that nervous.
"Hey, dushka."
"I'm sorry," she blurted.
"Sorry?"
"I ran away instead of staying and talking to your brother."
"Mason's fine. He's more worried about getting food into his bottomless pit of a stomach than you. He's going to stay the night here with us."
"He is?" She frowned, clearly thinking exactly what he'd assumed she'd be thinking.
"Mama is a cock blocker."
"What?" The first hint of a smile graced her lips.
"Mama sent him here to make sure there was no sex before we get married tomorrow."
"Is that so?"
"She's devious."
"She is." Lily nodded. "There will be no sex for you tonight."
"Fuck. Lily, I already have blue balls, and if you make me go all night and all day tomorrow..."
"Then you'll just have blue balls. I'm not having sex with you while your brother can hear us!"
Just like he thought she'd react. Fuck.
He'd said the word "fuck" more times in the last hour than he had in weeks. Lily wasn't that big on cussing, and he found he curved his language around her, but damn. He didn't expect to be cock blocked by his own mother the night before his wedding.
He should have, though. His mother was a very religious woman. If it had been up to her, they'd all be virgins on their wedding day.
Just the thought made him cringe.
"Fine, dushka, but you're going to make this up to me."
"Am I, now, Mr. Kincaid?"
"Da, soon-to-be Mrs. Kincaid. I bought new toys we're going to put to good use on our honeymoon."
"Toys?" Her eyes went a little wide. She loved toys as much as he did, much to her astonishment.
"Da, beautiful girl. Now, let's get Mason and go pick up Adam. If I'm not getting sex, I want food."
***
They decided on something simple since none of them wanted to risk gas before the wedding. It would be just Lily's luck to end up farting her fanny off as she stood before all their friends and family at the altar. Breakfast for dinner was agreed upon, and they found themselves at a little diner called Mae's across from New York University. Lily suspected Nikoli chose the place because Mason would be attending here next year, and he wanted the kid to have a decent place to find food.
She sat squished between Adam and Nikoli facing Kade, Angel, and Mason across the extra-wide booth. She didn't think they'd all fit, but they did, and with enough room not to stab anyone with an elbow.
"So, Lily, Mama says you've been avoiding her all week."
Kade's piercing gaze met hers, and she didn't look away. He was an FBI agent with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. He'd know she was hiding something in an instant if she did.
"I've been working late. There's a big book conference coming up all the agents are attending, and I've had to stay late this week to help them get ready. My boss even asked me if I'd consider rescheduling my wedding."
"She didn't!" Angel looked up from her pancakes. Her deep red hair and green eyes shouted Irish, but Lily wasn't sure what Kade's wife's heritage was. She'd met Angel back in Boston. Nikoli had been floored his favorite bartender was also his sister-in-law. Apparently, Kade had forgotten to file the divorce papers, and the two of them had been married for years.
Angel and Lily had become really good friends.
"She did, and I still think she was quite serious."
"I hope you told her where to go." Angel shoved another bite of pancakes into her mouth. "If not, I will."
"Lils has learned to take up for herself a lot since meeting Nikoli," Adam said. "She's quite bossy now."
"I was always bossy."
"True. You've bossed me since we were kids."
"You're the football player, aren't you?" Mason asked between shoveling bites of food.
Adam nodded, his blond locks swinging forward. Man needed a haircut. "I was picked up by Philly."
"That's cool. I thought about going pro, but I mean, look at me. I'm too pretty to get bruised up every week."
Lily burst out laughing along with Angel. None of the guys laughed at Mason's joke. Then again, they all probably thought they were prettier than Mason.
"He's definitely related to these two," Angel wheezed. "An ego bigger than the entire room."
"Hey, we don't..."
Lily put her finger to Nikoli's lips. "Do I need to remind you of your reputation at Boston?"
"One has nothing to do with the other."
"You don't think being labeled as a manwhore has anything to do with your opinions on your ego?"
Kade laughed, and Nikoli shot him a withering look.
"Milaya, I have told you not to call me that."
She only smiled mischievously.
"Well, Nikki you sort of were a manwhore," Angel told him. "Even I had heard about your rep."
"At least he wasn't on the corner in his trashy hooker gear." Lilly sipped her orange juice.
"He has hooker gear?" Kade's eyes got so big Lily thought they were going to pop.
"I do not...Lily!"
Lily couldn't contain herself any longer and laughed so hard, tears came to her eyes. He was so outraged. "Janet about died laughing when I told her that too."
"You did not tell her I own hooker gear!" he whispered, horrified.
"Uh, Nik, is there something we should know?" Adam asked.
"No!"
"It's cool if you like to dress up in hooker gear." Mason sat back and rubbed his full stomach. "You and Conner could compare notes."
"Conner doesn't dress like women." Kade frowned. "Or does he?"
"No, he doesn't." Nikoli took several deep breaths. "He may like men, but he doesn't dress like a woman, let alone a hooker."
"So, it's only you that does that, then?" Mason asked mildly.
"Do you know what you've started?" Nikoli asked Lily, who only smiled impishly at him. "They're never going to let me live this down."
"You notice he didn't deny it?" Mason did the loud whisper every single person at the table heard.
"Mase...I will beat you black and blue every day for the rest of your life if you spread that rumor."
"Would I do that?" he asked innocently.
"Come on, Lily, let's go to the restroom before Nikoli decides to murder you before the wedding." Angel stood, and Lily decided it was probably a good idea. She and Angel laughed as they made their way out of the dining room, only Angel didn't head toward the bathroom.
"Okay, I'm kidnapping you."
"What?"
"It's a thing. The bride and groom can't be together the night before the wedding. It's bad luck."
"I've never heard that before."
"Well, it is. Kade and I spent the night together, and look how that turned out. Took us years to find our way back to each other."
"Does Kade know..."
"He does. He and Mason are going back to your apartment, and they're going to watch movies or porn. Probably porn."
"My gown..."
"Janet is picking it up in the morning and will meet us at the church. I got you covered. You and I have a date with Netflix and ice cream."
Lily wasn't sure she was okay with this plan, but thinking about what Kade and Angel had been through, she was going to listen to her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Nikoli would have to deal.